DAILY NEWS: IN THE ANNALS of Philadelphia crime, the name Nafis Pinkney rings no bells amid the high-profile murderers, mobsters, corrupt cops and politicians. But in 2009, with a high-school diploma, a steady job as a baggage handler at Philadelphia International Airport and no criminal convictions, Pinkney, then 20, found himself beneath the bright light of a criminal interrogation. In a 24-hour span, he went from neighborhood witness to prime suspect, accused of murdering his friend since day-care days, Jonathan Pitts, 21, and Pitts’ girlfriend, Nakeisha Finks, 20. Steadfastly maintaining his innocence, Pinkney spent the next four years in […]
Win Tix To See The New Black Lips Middle East Tour Film @ The Ritz Tomorrow Night & Tix To See The Black Lips @ First Unitarian On Thur.
In 2009, The Black Lips started investigating the possibility of a bridge building tour of the Middle East with stops throughout the region. After two years of planning, several uprisings, a civil war, the tour finally came to fruition in the fall of 2012. It wasn’t easy either. Promoters in Jordan and Alexandria, Egypt backed out at the last minute because the band had played shows in Israel and a show in Erbil, Iraq had to be changed when an explicit video of the band was viewed by a government official. Suprisingly, It all worked out in the end though […]
BEING THERE: Animal Collective @ Union Transfer
Photos by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ As of this writing, Animal Collective is midway through a sold out two-night supercalifragilisticexpialidocious double-freak-out at Union Transfer. Last night, the band took the audience on a mind-melting supersonic trip that seemed to violate all the laws of the time and space, presenting something that was closer to quantum physics than cosmic indie-rock. The sold out crowd seemed well-prepped for the trip, some having donned lurid halloween costumes and consumed the requisite pharmaceuticals. Near the lip of the stage where I stood last night, the crowd gave the man in the long white nightgown and […]
BEING THERE: Of Montreal @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Although Of Montreal’s new album Lousy With Sylvianbriar finds the Elephant 6 graduates getting back to basics — which is to be expected of any group after 17 years and 11 albums of sonic exploration — last night’s show at Union Transfer was anything but predictable. After taking the stage, frontman Kevin Barnes politely greeted his adoring audience with a raise of his hand. He wore an unsurprisingly flamboyant outfit that consisted of a loud, tailored two-piece suit covered in a pattern of yellow leopard and green tiger faces, as well as black leather boots. […]
Win Tix To See Madeleine Peyroux @ The Merriam
Gawd, this just effing slays me every time — it’s like Billie Holiday covering Elliott Smith in a midnight cafe in Occupied Paris. She’s passing along key intel (unmasking a double agent or somesuch) to the operative from The Resistance (she knows it’s him because he’s wearing the agreed upon red scarf) seated at table six. But she has to sing it in code so the SS swine seated in the VIP section don’t catch on. Vive le resistance! By ‘she,’ we of course mean Madeleine Peyroux, everyone’s favorite smoky-cool Franco-Americano chanteuse from Athens, GA, by way of The City […]
Win Tix To See Cults At The TLA!
We have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Cults at the TLA tonight on December 5th– and we’re all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words THE CULT […]
Win Tix To See Father John Misty Tonight @ UT
I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Father John Misty perform solo and acoustic at Union Transfer tonight, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with […]
Win Tix To See F*ck Buttons @ Making Time
I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Fuck Buttons @ Making Time on Saturday, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words BUCK FUTTONS […]
Win Tix To See Franz Ferdinand @ The Tower
I have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Franz Ferdinand Tower Theater on Saturday October 19th, and I’m all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with the words TAKE […]
BEING THERE: Mark Lanegan @ Underground Arts
Photo by STEVE GULLICK The first time I met Mark Lanegan was in the men’s room of the now-defunct Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Google reminds me that it was Novermber 4th 1989. Actually, ‘met’ is probably too strong a word for it. I was standing at the urinal, using it as God intended, when suddenly Lanegan burst through the door, ran up to the sink and proceeded to projectile vomit. Prolifically. Then he looked up in the mirror, wiped his mouth with the back of his had, turned on his heel, exited just as abruptly as he entered, and then climbed […]
Win Tix To See Brian Wilson @ The Tower
To celebrate Brian Wilson coming to town like Santa Claus bringing tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, to the Tower on Sunday (along with tourmate Jeff Beck, formerly of the Yardbirds), we’re going to be posting all things Brian the next coupla days. Tomorrow we’ll be posting the Q&A we did with him last week. We’ll also be re-running our interview with Mike Love that first ran last summer on the occasion of the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary. We’ll have a long-form, essay-style review of The Smile Sessions box set, plus some other surprises. But right now, […]
STRIP STRIP HOORAY: Q&A With Dita Von Teese
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Of all the reasons that Dita Von Teese is cool — and make no mistake, she is very effing cool — the fact that she takes her clothes off for a living isn’t even in the Top 10. First she’s smarter than the average bear — and not just ‘smart for a stripper.’ She was invited to speak at Oxford. Do you know who else was invited to speak at Oxford? Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Tony Blair, and Anna Wintour. Second, her craft. The period clothes, the period hair, the pre-porn striptease routines, the ornate stage pieces, […]
Win Tix To See The Muscle Shoals Documentary
MUSCLE SHOALS is a documentary about a place filled with magic and music, legend and folklore, where the river is inhabited by a Native American spirit who has lured some of the greatest Rock and Roll and Soul legends of all time, and drawn from them some of the most uplifting, defiant, and important music ever created. In Muscle Shoals, Alabama, music runs through the hills, the river, and the spirit of the people. It is a place where, even before the Civil Rights Movement really took shape, the color of your skin didn’t matter inside the studio. At […]